Chuseok return traffic snarls highways across South Korea

Traffic congestion spread across major expressways Sunday, the last day of the Chuseok holiday.

According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, estimated travel times to the Seoul tollgate from major cities as of 9 a.m. Sunday were: five hours from Busan, four hours and 40 minutes from Ulsan, four hours and 10 minutes from Mokpo, four hours from Daegu, three hours and 40 minutes from Gwangju, two hours and 50 minutes from Gangneung, and one hour and 50 minutes from Daejeon.

Traffic began backing up early in the morning as vehicles flooded the roads heading back to Seoul.

On the Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway toward Yangpyeong, slow-moving traffic stretched about 2 kilometers near the Chungju junction, with another 1-kilometer backup near the Yeoju junction.

From around 10 a.m., congestion was also expected on the Gyeongbu Expressway between Nam-Cheongju and Oksan and between Suwon Singal and Singal, as well as on the West Coast Expressway between Dangjin and Poseung junction in the Seoul-bound direction.

The Korea Expressway Corporation forecast that the return-trip congestion, which began in the morning, would peak between 4 and 5 p.m. and ease by 10 to 11 p.m.

Total nationwide traffic volume was expected to reach about 5.24 million vehicles Sunday. The corporation projected that 370,000 vehicles would travel from the greater Seoul area to regional cities, while 490,000 would head in the opposite direction.

Outbound holiday traffic has largely cleared. Travel times from Seoul to major cities stood at four hours and 30 minutes to Busan, four hours and 10 minutes to Ulsan, four hours to Daegu, three hours and 40 minutes to Mokpo, two hours and 40 minutes to Gangneung, three hours and 20 minutes to Gwangju, and one hour and 30 minutes to Daejeon.

Unlike the expressways, major roads within Seoul were flowing smoothly.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's traffic information system, no congestion had been reported on key arterial roads running across the city, including Olympic-daero, Gangbyeon Bukro and the Inner Circular Road, as well as the East and West Arterial roads and Gangnam Sunhwan-ro.